The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1887-05-05

She drew her hand across her ewes.
and her voice broke q little as she
~ '>''~
"Pears like never could keer for
nobody but Slm. An'-an'-I like to
1eet ne knows what I'm dom fur his
sake.
"Who was Jim?" asked Benson. .
lie was the man lowed to marry
oNcet. He was mighty fond of me.
ne was: He was the crack shot of the
settlement, Jim was. Ell a wild tur.
key or a deer was ratified, jim was the
one to kerry it off. Jim he'd got our
mouse finished, two rooms an a patch
OF ground cleared fur garden truck, an
my weddin' frock was made. Hit was
white muslin with a blue posy sprig-
ged over it.
II never could bar to see tibet thar
trock. laid it away out'n my sight.
Hit got nightly yallow a=layin' Nv,
but l reckon I'll be laid out in it when
Pm dead"
Here she paused again and gazed in
to the fire.
Mr.. Benson asked:
odd Jim die?"
mo, not terreckly. We'd done been
married ef mother hadn't took sick.
She'd had misery in her head all
spring, an she was sick nightly
Sometimes we'd think she was plum
gone. We sont for Mary Lily to
come an help us. Tibet thar is her."
nodding her head toward the other,
now fast asleep and snoring audibly,
"She is my cousin, Mary Lily is.
Mother KEEP a lingerin' along an
nussin' her, an I didn't have much
time fur Jim. Bimeby hit all kim out;
HIM and Mary Lily bad got to maxi in
love. Feared like I'd die when
found hit out. 1 didn't feel mad at
Jim; he couldn't help it. Invent down
to the river bank whar Jim was. Hit
was a bright day, an the sun was
shlnin' on the water, powerful.
KANT ever see the sun on the water;
'thout'n feelin' the same way as l did
tibet day.
"sez !, Jim, I've kim to give yo' up
to her." See I, Jim, our Heavily
Father knows l amt nauthin' agin
yo'. And he busted out crying like q
woman.
"Well, we talked it over. Jim, he
wanted ME to marry him any way,
But, Lord! I couldn't do tibet thar;
'Peared like my heart would break to
hyar him talk. But hilt on to what
l thought WAS right.
"Bime by he left me. The sun was
gettin' low. l was settin' on the river
bank. l watched him goin' up the
path through the bushes. l knowel
he was goin' to Mary Lily. 'Peared
like | kind o lost my senses then.
'Peared like done TO got whar was.
When kim to myself twas late night.
The stars was shinin' an the owls
was hootin' same as tibet thar one in
the tree"
Mr.. Benson felt an unaccountable
huskiness in his throat.
Why should this story, told by an
ignorant, unlettered woman affect
him in such a manner? He leaned
toward her and said:
"Well, go on
'"Thar amt much mo- to tell. They
war married an they KEEP house in
the place Jin'd fixed fur me. Mary
L1zy was a well-lookin' gal. Yo'
wouldn't reckon so now, but she was.
But she was no count. She use'n to
dip snuff like We ais do, but she dip.
ped pow'iul, an she chewed, an she
smoked constant. She TUX to likin'
whisky nightly, too. Hit unsettled
her nerves. Her baby died, an tibet
was a blessin'. Jim said so.
Five years ago come this
spring, he died. l was thar tibet
night. He took hold my hand. SEE
he: i amt seen a happy minit,' seq
he;' an Pm sorry Then seen the
deaths hadders creeping up his face,
but l couldn't cry. Feared like some.
thin choked me; but couldn't cry.
Mary Lily had been gwin on GURUS
for some days, an tibet thar night
she tried to drown herself. Said She
would, first er last; an Jim he hilt
close to my hand. SEE he: Don't let
he do tibet thar. She's out'n her
head, she is, but reckon her soul
would be done lost eff she killed her.
self. Don't let her go to torment.
His eyes looked wild while he was talk.
in, but he Gained down when ]
promised ter watch her.
''He died befo' ay-break-'peared
like l was glad and sorry both.
''Thet's all. Pm jest watchin' Mary
Lily. She's gettin' wuss. Twouldn't
be so hard if she war sick in bed; but
reckon it don't matter ef kin keep
up with her. Sometimes when I'm
asleep see Jim. He amt dream
hits him-his sperrit-he knows all
bout it."
Then her voice fell to a lower KEY,
as she added: II KANT help thinkin'
twill be different in the next world.
Hit amt the same as this hyar yearth.
l feel like God Almighty will let me an
Jim keer fur each other, up thar"
While she had been talking, the
dawn had crept noiselessly over the
earth: 1t showed the gray river
sweeping along under the grayer sky;
the dreary winds swaying the moss
like funeral wreaths; the cypress trees
standing to their knees in the water;
the last waning moonbeams stealing
across the hill tops.
Coloriess, devoid of light, of every
thing that can make life worth living,
was this life, passed in this dreary
wilderness; passed in heroic self-sacri.
flee, whose extent she herself did not
comprehend!
But the man who listened to her,
his eyes moist with unusual tears. felt
that his fine-spun theories of differ.
ences in human nature were swept
away as though they had been cob.
webs.
Long Minutes.
Every one becomes aware by his
own observation of the fact that hours
seem to vary greatly in length, &C.